Arizona Diamondbacks at Los Angeles Dodgers Betting Preview
Sunday afternoon features a bit of a David versus Goliath matchup in the N.L. West as the Arizona Diamondbacks (26-65) take on the Los Angeles Dodgers (55-35). Los Angeles will host this one at Dodger Stadium, with the first pitch scheduled for 4:10 pm ET.
This will be the rubber match of their three-game series as the Diamondbacks and Dodgers split the first two.
In Saturday’s win, Dodgers’ starter Walker Buehler went six innings of scoreless ball while striking out seven. The Dodgers offense erupted for 22 runs and eight home runs, including two from A.J. Pollock, two from Albert Pujols, and a grand slam from Mookie Betts.
In the loss, Arizona’s Caleb Smith went just one inning and allowed nine runs. Down nine runs after just the first couple innings, Arizona just couldn’t get anything going offensively to make it competitive.
The Dodgers are the favorites in Sunday’s matchup. They are -240 to win while the Diamondbacks’ moneyline is +198. The runline features Arizona +1.5 (-102), and the over/under for total runs is nine.
Pitching Matchup
Arizona will send righty Merrill Kelly to the mound for the finale. This season, Kelly is 5-7 with a 4.60 ERA, 1.27 WHIP, and has 90 strikeouts in 103.2 innings of work.
Los Angeles will counter with Tony Gonsolin. He is 1-0 this season with a 2.11 ERA. In his last start, a 2-1 loss to the Marlins, Gonsolin went 5.1 innings, allowing no runs on two hits while striking out three.
By The Numbers
The Dodgers have been one of the best offensive teams in baseball this season. They currently rank fifth in scoring averaging 5.02 runs per game. The Diamondbacks rank 20th averaging 4.18 runs (3.77 on the road).
Defensively, it is once again the Dodgers with the huge advantage. They rank third in scoring defense, allowing just 3.70 runs per game to opponents. Arizona ranks 29th, allowing 5.58 runs.
Arizona Hope To Play Spoiler
At 26-65 and over 30 games back in the division, the Diamondbacks are basically out of any postseason discussion before the All-Star break. Still, they will hope to play spoiler on Sunday by taking the series from their division rivals.
To do so, they will need to play much better on the road. Coming into play Sunday, they are a miserable 11-37 on the road this year.
Leading the way offensively for Arizona is third baseman, Eduardo Escobar. A possible trade candidate for the Diamondbacks, Escobar is hitting .253/.299/.485 with 20 home runs, 60 runs batted in, and 45 runs scored.
Dodgers Look To Remain Strong At Home
At 55-35, the Dodgers have the second-best record in not only the division but the entire National League. They have a sparkling 29-14 home record and will look to continue that trend as they try to win the series over Arizona.
Leading the way offensively for the Dodgers this season has been Max Muncy. He is currently hitting .263/.411/.542 with 18 home runs, 49 runs batted in, and 52 runs scored.
After homering Saturday night, one player to keep an eye on is Cody Bellinger. Albeit in just seven at-bats, he is hitting .429 with two home runs against Merrill Kelly.
Mookie Betts, Albert Pujols, and Will Smith have also taken the righty deep in their careers.
Take Dodgers To Finish Series Win
While Arizona was able to steal the first game of the series, expect the Dodgers to finish out the series win on Sunday.
Tony Gonsolin certainly isn’t their strongest starter, but he has pitched well this season and between a dynamite pitching staff (Dodgers rank first in staff ERA at 3.15) and offense, expect Los Angeles to take care of business against Merrill Kelly and the Diamondbacks.
Take Los Angeles both to win (-240) and to cover the 1.5 runline (-118).
